Chrome 91 includes 32 security fixes — why you need to patch now

By Paul Wagenseil
published

New version of Chrome also brings new features

The Google Chrome logo displayed on a laptop screen.
(Image credit: monticello/Shutterstock)

Google Chrome version 91, specifically 91.0.4472.77, has been released and it contains a couple of useful new features as well as fixing 32 security holes. You'll want to update as soon as possible.

The new version was pushed out late yesterday (May 25). So far, Chrome's siblings Brave, Edge, Opera and Vivaldi have not incorporated the update, but at least a couple likely will by the end of the day today.

How to update Chrome

To update Chrome on Windows or Mac, it's usually enough to just close the browser and relaunch it. To make sure, you can click the three vertical dots at the top right corner of the browser window, then scroll down, highlight Help and click on "About Google Chrome" in the fly-out menu that appears. 

A new tab will open that will either tell you that your build of Chrome is up-to-date or that it is downloading the new version, after which you have to relaunch the browser.

Linux users may have to wait until their distribution pushes out Chrome updates along with the rest of the regular software updates.

The Android,  iOS and Chrome OS versions of Chrome get separate sets of patches and will be updated on their own cycles. Chrome 91 for Android (opens in new tab) was also released yesterday and should be appearing in Google Play soon. The iOS version of Chrome 91 (opens in new tab) is in beta and can be downloaded from the App Store for users who've enabled beta releases.

Nearly three dozen security fixes

Of the flaws fixed with this version of Chrome, at least eight are rated as "high" severity on the official Chrome blog (opens in new tab). This implies that these flaws could probably be exploited by a malicious website or other internet-based attack. 

None of the flaws are flagged as "zero-day" issues — i.e., that an attacker had exploited the flaws before Google had a chance to fix them. That's a welcome respite from a cascade of recent zero-days that saw Google rushing out patches to Chrome four times over the course of two weeks in April.

New features: Gravity sensor, copy-and-paste files

Most of the other changes to Chrome are subtle and won't be noticeable to most users. A couple that might be include a new gravity sensor for laptops (opens in new tab) that have the appropriate hardware and the ability to copy and paste files (opens in new tab) from their operating system's file manager directly into a Gmail message. 

Here's a rundown of the most recent Chrome desktop updates.

Paul Wagenseil
Paul Wagenseil

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random TV news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA home-technology conference. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.